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Jazz Cruises ConversationsAuthor: Lee Mergner
Jazz Cruises Conversations invites you to escape to the high seas for the most intimate and candid conversations in music. Go beyond the stage for full-length interviews with the biggest names in jazz and smooth jazz, recorded live on the world's premier floating music festivals.Guided by veteran host Lee Mergner (and other musicians, comedians, and on-board talent), hear legends open up about their careers, creative process, and lives on the road, all recorded exclusively on sailings of The Jazz Cruise, Blue Note at Sea, Botti at Sea, and The Smooth Jazz Cruise. Mergner and his crews knowledgeable perspectives ensure these aren't just chatsthey are engaging, entertaining, and truly informative deep dives into the music.---Signature Cruise Experiences is the Gold Standard for Charter Theme Cruises since 2001. In that time, we have produced over 100 full ship theme charters, most of which featured a significant music theme and top performers.Our goal has been to present the very best musicians possible and do so with authenticity and professionalism. Our music venues are the best at sea and our sound production is Performing Art Center quality. Nothing but the best for our talent which translates to the very best for our guests. Language: en Genres: Music, Music Commentary, Music Interviews Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Brass, Voice & Vision: Bria Skonberg & Benny Benack III in Conversation
Episode 116
Monday, 4 May, 2026
Bria Skonberg has a confession: she's releasing two albums this year, one all-trumpet and one all-vocal, partly because she still hasn't figured out how to make the two coexist. "I'm always trying to find or write material that highlights them both in their best light," she says in this wide-ranging conversation with fellow trumpeter-vocalist Benny Benack III, recorded live aboard The Jazz Cruise.The two have toured together, finished each other's sentences, and find themselves facing versions of the same creative questions: how do you balance two voices, build a discography with intention, and keep making music that matters?Recorded on The Jazz Cruise 2026, the conversation covers the pair's prolific recording approaches (and the producer who keeps Bria from releasing six albums a year), the particular challenge of the trumpet as a lifelong pursuit, and what happens when the audience always wants more of whichever thing you just did less of. The episode also opens into a genuine conversation about jazz education and arts advocacy, sparked by audience questions, with both artists speaking from real experience in classrooms and clinics, not talking points.A candid, energetic hour with two of the most compelling younger voices in jazz today.Send us Fan MailListen to more episodes of Jazz Cruises Conversations on Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. The back catalog contains more than a hundred interviews from past sailings.Theme Music: Provided by Marcus Miller from his song "High Life" on his album Afrodeezia on Blue Note.
